Peter tried for the umpteenth time to refocus on the report in front of him. Hughes had been oddly accommodating considering his inability to get his head together for the past couple of days. He berated himself for worrying. It wasn't even like Neal was in danger or had even dropped off radar. He was still at June's (he'd called June just to check-in) and hadn't made any travel plans in any of the alias' Peter had for him. Which wasn't to say that Mozzie hadn't gotten Neal a new one, but Haversham seemed to be spending most of time with Neal as far as he could tell.

Peter had come to work the day after, well, their break up to find Neal's desk empty and a confused Hughes pointing at him from the door of his office.

"Neal came into my office this morning with a resignation letter. Did you know about this?" Hughes asked before Peter could even take his seat. He steeled his expression; he didn't want Hughes to see the stab of pain Peter felt in his gut. He'd known that whatever Neal decided to do he would do it quickly, but it still hurt.

"It's not a surprise, but I didn't know."

"Not a?" Hughes was incredulous, "Did Kramer make him a better offer? I should have known better than to let that...,"

"I don't think Neal is going to be working for Kramer. He just needs a change of scenery. He needs to figure a few things out, I think, and he really never chose this, he just fell into it."

Hughes confused face was almost comical. "I had the impression that this was the only place he wanted to be."

Peter shrugged his shoulders helplessly, not feeling confident that he could form a coherent response. Hughes had given him a disgusted look and waved his hand in Peter's direction indicating that Peter should get the hell out of his office, so he did.

He had asked a few sources to do some recon work for him as soon as he made it back to his office. He supposed he should have felt guilty for keeping tabs on Neal, but just because he believed Neal was in the long run going to be better off on his own didn't mean that he was going to stand on the sidelines, if he decided to do something stupid or self-destructive. He'd have to play his cards very carefully, though. If Neal did do something that put himself or his freedom in danger, he would have to step in, even if it impinged on the freedom that Peter was trying to give him.

The phone startled him from his thoughts and away from the report he still wasn't reading. He knew he sounded gruff when he answered, barking out, "Burke, here."

"Peter? It's Sara Ellis."

Peter straightened. He should have known she would call him directly the next time Sterling-Bosch needed the agency.

His, "Sara, what can the agency do for you, today?" was overly bright even to his own ears.

"I'm not calling on Sterling business, at least not strictly speaking." Something was going on with Neal.

"Neal's not doing something crazy, is he?"

"Only if you call asking for a job at the Nation's premier insurance company crazy." He tried to calm the bile rising in his throat. He'd gone to Sara. That was good. It was. Sara was a good, strong woman who didn't need Neal for anything.

"Well, if you're calling for a recommendation. You know that Neal's work..."

"Peter," she interrupted, "I know Neal's qualified. That's not why I'm calling," Peter heard a voice filter through the phone and allowed his focus to wander while Sara answered the speaker. "Peter, I'm at work. Can you do lunch today? I really need to talk to you."

Peter was a little apprehensive. He was sure Neal was smart enough not to tell his ex that he and Peter were... had been in a relationship if he wanted a job from her, but maybe she needed reassurance that he wasn't going to be a factor anymore. He could do that, would do it for Neal. "Sure, you pick the place."

Peter saw that Sara had taken a corner booth. Of course she wanted privacy, she was fishing for a reason behind Neal's departure from the bureau.

"Sara, you're looking lovely today." She partially rose out of her seat to greet him, "Thanks, Peter, wish I could say the same."

"Oh, I didn't sleep well last night."

"That's what Neal said, when I saw to him yesterday."

Peter felt worry knot in his stomach, "But he's okay?"

She smiled sadly at him, "As okay as he can be, Peter."

He'd told her. That, he was not expecting. "He told you about..."

"He didn't have to. The second he showed up at my door I knew that either he or you had done something stupid," she was unfolding her napkin as she spoke, spreading it across her lap as she continued, "it didn't take much to get him to tell me everything."

Peter swallowed embarrassed. Everything could mean a lot. How Peter'd had to get a little drunk to kiss him for the first time or how Neal had dissolved into a laughing fit the first time Peter had given him a blowjob, because according to Neal, 'he looked so damn serious' about it.

He shook his head to clear it. "So, do you want to know if I'm going to stay away?"

Sara's brow fell as she looked at him, "Peter, I always thought you were a smart man, but you're really starting to make me reassess that opinion."

"Did he tell you...?"

"That you think he created his feeling for him out of some sort of need to please. Yeah, he mentioned that Peter." She sounded genuinely insulted on Neal's behalf and Peter supposed if you looked at it from the outside.

"Sara," He pleaded, "he obviously agrees on some level. He left the bureau."

"Of course, he left Peter. He's in love with you. Neal's all about tragic love but even he isn't going to stay in the same office with someone who would think so little..."

"I do not think less of Neal!" Peter adjusted his position, so that his back was to the rest of the restaurant. "If anything I think less of myself. I should have taken the time to think about Neal and how he interacts with people in his life before jumping into a relationship with him. I was the one being selfish."

Sara was tapping her heel under the table as he spoke, waiting for her turn. She rolled her eyes at him as he finished, "Peter, Neal's feelings for you didn't change just because your feeling for him did."

"I'm sorry Sara, but you haven't been here. You and Neal parted before El passed away and I know for a fact that until yesterday you haven't seen him since the funeral, so you can't possibly know how Neal's changed in the last year."

"I'm not saying he hasn't changed, but those feelings Peter," She shook her head as the waiter came to the table. Peter hadn't even looked at the menu, so they both ordered the special to get the man out of their hair.

They were silent as the waiter walked away to put their order in, "The night Neal led you to the treasure I went to see him," Sara was usually good at keeping her emotions in check, but Peter could hear the hurt in her voice as she spoke. "I was coming up the stairs at June's when I heard him and Mozzie arguing. Mozzie asked him why he would throw away the biggest score of their lives. Do want to guess what Neal's number one reason for staying was?" She laughed bitterly, "I didn't even come in second."

Peter deflated, giving her a compassionate look, "He had built a good life here. I helped him..."

She laughed at him, plastering a fake smile as the waiter refilled their water. "I still tried. I thought we could build something and that I could handle being with a man that was in love with someone else. Especially since that someone else was so out of reach, but when El got sick... it's not that he was waiting in the wings… he wouldn't do that, but the way he took care of you and El. I'd thought playing second to you was something I could learn to live with, but playing third to my unknowing rival's wife was just a little too much for my ego."

Sara's words and Neal's denials were starting to fill in a picture in Peter's head. "I'm sorry if I leaned on Neal too much when El was sick. I didn't mean to come between the two of you."

Sara let out a defeated breath, "You didn't, Peter. Neal was the one who chose you and El over me. He knew what he was doing. Then and now." Her eyes were steel.

"What is he...is planning to stay in New York?" Peter's voice was gruff-sounding, so he took a drink. "He doesn't know what he's going to do. I think he's too hurt," Peter felt the words like a punch in the chest, "to make any big life decisions right now. But he won't wait long, Peter. The second he gets over the shock of it all, he's going to run."

Peter could feel the difference in the house the moment he closed the door. Satch could have been asleep somewhere and not heard him enter, but..,

"Don't freak, Suit. It's just me."

"Mozzie!" Peter looked around the living room, catching the reflected light of the streetlight shining off Mozzie's head. He was sitting in his office chair, hands folded in front of him on Peter's desk.

"Satch is on the back porch. You know El would be upset with you for leaving him alone for so long."

"I have a dog-walker and," Peter turned on the light, shucking his coat as he walked down the hall, "I'm not usually this late."

"All the same." Mozzie was glaring at him from his desk. He had to hand it to the man. He really had a flare for the dramatic when needed.

"How did you get in my house? Did you talk that kid into..."

Mozzie lifted a set of keys from the top of the desk, "I had no need to bribe your neighbor. El gave me a set."

"El gave you, a known criminal, keys to our house."

"Ms' wasn't quite as judgmental as you are."

"No, she wasn't." He let his exhaustion show as he spoke. "Moz, what are you doing here?"

"Doing something that I thought I'd never have to again after Kate died."

"You're comparing me to Kate?" Peter couldn't even begin to process all the feelings that accusation brought up.

"Actually you're worse." Mozzie came forward on his elbows as he spoke. "Neal trusted you. He might have said he loved Kate, but if there's no trust, it isn't really love in my opine. I tried to tell him about you, but no one ever listens to me."

"Tell him what about me?"

"That you weren't quite as sophisticated as he thought when it came to affairs of the heart and would probably panic on him the first second someone gave you some push back."

Peter straightened, "I didn't panic because, well, apparently I'm in love with a man. I panicked because I thought I was taking advantage of him. I'm no Kate. I would never want to use who Neal is against him."

"Neal is who is he is. He isn't going to change," Peter opened his mouth to argue that Neal had changed, but Mozzie spoke over him, "he might channel his talents and skills for use by the good guys now, but if you don't accept him for who he is, it's best you just stay away. I'm not going to stand by and watch him get torn apart again."

"I know, Moz. I didn't mean to hurt him. I was doing what I thought was best."

"What you thought was best?" Mozzie sat back in the chair steepling his fingers. "But you don't think that anymore?"

"I think that what I have to say to Neal is none of your business and that you're just going to have to wait to hear it from him."

"Umm, interesting," Mozzie said, nodding as though he was in deep thought.

Peter was running out of patience, "Did you have something else to say?"

"Besides your being a jerk and whatever you've done to Neal you better fix it and fast. He's off his game and if he bolts when he's in such a highly emotional state he'll make a mistake." Mozzie turned in Peter's chair as he spoke. "At the very least stop by and let him yell at you for a little while. It'll clear his head." Mozzie said coming to a stop in front of him.

"You know Suit, I gotta say I respect that you were willing to let Neal go for his own good. That was a very not-Kate thing to do."

"Thanks," Peter deadpanned.

"Later," Mozzie said as he turned to make his way out of the house. Peter hooked his arm in a firm grip. "The keys, Mozzie?" Peter presented his hand, palm up. Mozzie fidgeted for a moment before pulling the keys out of his pocket and putting them in Peter's hand. "And I'll expect all the copies you made in my hand by tomorrow night."

Mozzie's face fell, "I have a set stored out of state. Can you wait a few days?"

"Every set Moz," He huffed dramatically at Peter's tone as he nodded his head and held up his palms in surrender. "Fine, but if I get pulled over at the border..."

"The border? Why do you have a set of our house keys in Canada?"

Instead of answering he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and pressed his lips together tightly.

Peter took a deep breath, letting go of his arm, "Mozzie, get out of my house."

"'Night, suit." He said as turned to scurry down the hall and out into the night.

"Goodnight, Mozzie."